Traditionally, parts used in manufacturing a product are picked up and placed in a position for manufacturing by human hand or robotic means. However, current robotic means have not provided a level of control, dexterity, and effectiveness to be cost-effectively implemented in some manufacturing systems.
Automated manufacturing systems that implement a variety of processes have traditionally relied on discrete mechanisms to implement each of the different processes. However, having automation machinery dedicated to a primarily-discrete task may be inefficient from a production perspective and from a cost perspective.